Archive September 2018

Correctbook deserves yout attention. What is Correctbook for me? It is my Ideabook and an opportunity for children in Africa and Latin America to learn to read and write.

How do you work with ideas? You write something on a piece of paper, or something you happen to have with you, you scratch something, throw papers away and then it is there!

Just that is a shame about the messy paper with all scratched ideas and especially a shame about wasting all that precious paper! This is where Correctbook, an endless rewritable notebook comes in. Think of a mini-whiteboard that you can always use, never worry about empty batteries and never look for papers again. And what comes with it makes it completely! Correctbook donates 25% of the Business to Consumer and 10% Business to Business to Correctbooks for children in Africa and Latin America.

(Dutch Site) At Visio everyone can go to questions about being visually impaired or blind. Visio offers information and advice, but also various forms of research, guidance, rehabilitation, education and living. These services are for people who are visually impaired or blind, even if they also have an intellectual, physical or other sensory impairment. Personal and professional stakeholders can also contact Visio for information and expertise promotion.

During the first MakeHealth: Prototyping series participant Debby Marchena developed a light-giving white stick in FabLab Amsterdam. During this MakeHealth Meetup on the International Day of the White Stick Debby presents her prototype and ambitions. For visitors there is the possibility to purchase one of the first prototypes of the ‘Merchana Bright White Cane 1.0’ as an early adopter. For further development Debby is looking for feedback from users and their environment. Through the open source sharing of her knowledge and experience, Debby ultimately wants to spread light around the world and increase the safety of people with visual impairments.

Pimp my caneDebby Marchena lives in Amsterdam and has a visual impairment. She was hit earlier this year by a motorist who had not seen her in the dark. To increase the visibility of people with a visual impairment for their environment, her white stick is provided with light. The lighted white stick, Jedi style, should help prevent accidents of this kind.

Debby is further developing and improving her prototype. On 15 October, Debby will launch a public campaign to share its model open source. Her ambition is to prevent accidents of this kind, to allow people with visual impairments to use this model and that in 2030 the algorithms in self-driving cars will recognize her stick and respond to it. The program consists of a presentation of the development trajectory and realization of the luminous white stick and a brainstorm about preconditions and further development.

About Made4YouIn Made4You, citizens, healthcare professionals and makers work together to design and develop personalized care applications. Care has changed radically in the past century. A growing group of citizens experiences that products and services in healthcare are too expensive, do not match their needs, or simply do not exist (yet). With the advent of technology, the possibilities for developing digital healthcare applications have been increased. With MakeHealth we want to develop new, open design applications and publish them online.

Towards a usable prototypeWe continue to experiment!The most recent stick (early September 2018) is fiberglass, with highly reflective tape around it, and 2 improvised red stripes.And this is how it looks in real life!

During the final presentation of Prototyping Health in the Waag, everyone could admire the prototypes. The question, which almost everyone asked, was: Does not this still exist? Is not it logical to equip a white stick with light?
There are light swords, as toys and for role play.
There is a white stick of Laser, as light, without tactile feedback, very inconvenient for the blind, especially if the battery fails. Furthermore, as far as is known, there is nothing.
On 15 October next is a presentation in the Waag of my Pimped Cane, in the context of Prototyping Health.

The FabLab in the Waag in Amsterdam
The FabLab van de Waag, on the Nieuwmarkt in Amsterdam, is filled with people who all want the best for mankind. Patient technicians, an inspiring director (always making technology accessible to ordinary citizens, including co-founder of De Digitale Stad), interns who (try to) develop the most fantastic products such as Open Source prostheses, which you can use with self-made 3D printers. manufacturing with plastic waste in a remote poor area without health care, etc. All people who want to contribute something good or beautiful to the well-being of the whole humanity, including themselves.
Good company, good antidepressant.

This website is aimed to enhance the lives of the Visually Impaired and Blind (VIB).

For this to work we take a 360 degree context centered around the VIB. Our first initiative is to make mobility for the VIB safer. The “Blind Cane” is the main tool for the VIB to make their presence clear and communicate their bearing and course to other traffic participants. The original cane was introduced nearly a hundred years ago and has proven it’s value.Now with new Technology available, we want to increase it’s utility.1 Enhance mobility and Increase visibility2 Enhance functionality for VIB3 Enhance communication to smart vehicles, traffic lights, bicyclists and other pedestriansOur first initiative is a 2.0 version of the Blind Cane, named “Marchena Cane” after it’s inventress. This is an easy to use and practical cane that can light up like a light sabre. We figure that if other traffic participants can actually see the VIB and identify the person they see as a VIB, they will naturally adapt their behaviour.Wielding a light sabre will most probably help the VIB to encourage other people to take notice! We know the “lighted blind cane” itself is not a new idea. We want to make this great idea of a modern Blind Cane universally available for VIB’s all over the world and easy for people re-make them. There are Fab Labs all over the world who can assist people with fabrication.It is Debby’s vision that 30% of people with visual impairments use the “Marchena Cane” by 2025 and in 2030 the algorithms in self-driving cars recognize their stick and respond to it.This will have a massive positive impact on VIB safety, mobility and Quality of Life.

Contact Jeroen Willems for the Light up cane Project

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